December 2013

22/01/14

December 2013

The forest is dead, long live the forest!

Something exciting is happening in the heart of Europe. On the borders of the Czech Republic and Germany a change in management has led to a new landscape. The Bavarian Forest National Park in Bavaria and the neighboring Sumava National Park in Bohemia decided to leave nature to it’s own devices in the core areas in the higher altitudes. In the 1990’s a few soft winters and warm summers led to the development of huge numbers of spruce bark beetles. Usually infested trees would be removed, however in the core areas with their new ‘leaving nature to its own devices’ management the beetles were left to multiply. These tiny (3-4mm) little monsters killed the monotonous spruce forests in the highlands all in one go. Later a few hurricanes caused a lot of standing dead trees to topple, creating an even more open landscape and giving the forest a chance to begin from scratch. A new mixed forest is developing in the highlands. It’s become an example of a dynamic forest ecosystem and it will be interesting to see how it develops in the future.

In the winter it can all look a bit apocalyptic with all the dead trees and snow covering all the saplings but in spring and summer it all comes to life. I’ve seen capercaillie moving through the landscape feeding on berries, red and roe deer feeding on the varied vegetation and I’ve heard the eerie sounds of Ural owls calling in the distance during spring. European lynx apparently also hunt here due to the abundance of prey.

I used a long lens to compress the winter landscape, and a wide-angle to show the spring flower display in May of 2013.